1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to an interactive television environment and, more specifically, to the management of channel bandwidth in video on demand and targeted advertising in an interactive television environment.
2. Background of the Related Art
Interactive television broadcasters, network operators, and multiple system operators reach a large and diverse demographic of users via broadcasts over satellite, terrestrial, and high-speed cable networks. These various operators, however, face several problems delivering individualized and localized content to individual viewers. Each operator must strike a balance between their desire to convey individualized content versus allocation of the limited bandwidth available to them. Because there is insufficient bandwidth available in the broadcast to dedicate a specially designed channel for each user, tailoring a broadcast to an individual is problematic.
Small, local cable/terrestrial operators desire to distinguish their product offerings by promoting their individuality, that is, the ability to reach and appeal to the little guy, the individual user on a personal level. Typically, broadcast data is presented as a one-to-many presentation in a broadcast carousel. In the typical broadcast scenario, every user's set-top-box (STB) receives and conceivably views whatever is broadcast in the carousel. Selectivity or limitation of availability to select authorized individuals or groups is typically provided by Conditional Access (CA) mechanisms which restrict the availability of broadcast data to authorized users. However, CA generally requires additional hardware and is not particularly well-suited for selection of personalized or individualized content from the broadcast. Further, use of CA mechanisms may not address the bandwidth limitations associated with individualized broadcasts.
Individualized content may also be desirable for interactive television applications. Catalog-type content, such as automobiles for sale, real estate listings, and restaurant guides, however, may be extremely local in nature. Most users or viewers are only interested in cars and restaurants in their local region. Often times the location of content of interest will be located only a few miles from a viewer's home. Thus, a broad coverage area could possibly be divided into numerous local regions each requiring a separate dedicated broadcast channel. Moreover, a plurality of special interest channels may be required for each region.
In order to address multiple local regions, a large broadcaster serving thousands of viewers would have to provide a multitude of individualized channels for the various localities and interest groups being served in order to accommodate the broadcaster's entire subscriber base of viewers. For example, a broadcaster that supplies five major urban centers may require five dedicated channels for a “used car” channel or program that is localized for each area of the five areas. These five channels would permanently reduce the available bandwidth by five channels even when none of the five channels are being used or viewed. Moreover, if short videos or pictures are included in the dedicated channel, the permanent dedicated bandwidth for each channel would be excessive and would cut into an already limited bandwidth availability. Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus for providing individualized local content without utilizing excessive dedicated bandwidth.
There is also a desire to provide localized, one-to-one targeted individualized advertising. Broadcast advertisements are generally pushed or broadcast indiscriminately to subscribers at large. In this push marketing scenario, every viewer receives the same advertisements whether or not they show an interest in the product. Advertising, however, is generally believed more effective when it is delivered to those who have already expressed an interest in a particular area. While developing a profile of viewing habits and purchases of end users or viewers may enable advertisers to deliver targeted messages, determining and storing the viewer's interests in a profile can be offensive to privacy-minded viewers and may be deemed an invasion of their privacy. Thus, there is a desire to provide targeted advertising in a manner which is more acceptable to privacy-minded users.